“Hey kids, what time is it?” If you said, “It’s Howdy Doody time!” then you are seriously old. If you have no idea who Howdy Doody is you need to rush over to YouTube and search for Howdy Doody. If for no other reason, you can laugh at your parents for what they used to watch on television. Despite what my children may think, I am not old enough to have actually seen this program but my parents did and they used to sing the theme song to me. That may explain a lot of why I am as warped as I am.

No, today is not Howdy Doody time but it is just as fun. Today is official weigh-in day and marks double-digit weeks that I have been on the Take Shape For Life diet. Just a couple of months ago I was lounging around the house in an extra large shirt carrying a large bowl of Lucky Charms cereal from my computer to the couch to watch television thinking that I was the epitome of great health. I weighed in at a little over 210 pounds and suffered from high blood pressure, asthma, allergies, acid-reflux disease, a fatty liver, and some sort of pre-cancerous condition (I have no idea what that means even to this day).

Do you ever have one of those days where you stumble out of bed, stagger into the bathroom and stare at the mirror and ask yourself, “Who are you and what have you done with Jeff?” Well unless your name is Jeff you probably haven’t had one of those days and I’m here to tell you that you’re pretty lucky that you haven’t.

Today was one of those days where I didn’t even recognize who I was any more. It’s not so much the weight loss although I am getting more and more comments about how thin I am getting especially in my face and neck. No I am talking about something much more sinister and thought provoking.

It used to be that I looked forward to Friday just to start the weekend. After a full week of work I needed a couple of days off if for no other reason that to get a reprieve from the stress of my job. Since starting this diet, I have both anticipated and dreaded Fridays.

Friday marks the end of each week on the diet which means that my reading assignment and homework is due today and I have to step on the scale to see what progress if any I am making in the weight loss department.

One of the great things about the Withings Wi-Fi Body Scale is how it can monitor and track up to eight separate people and their weight. Perhaps the most amazing part of this tracking is that the scale can identify the person whenever they step on the scale. Well, that’s the theory. In reality that’s not always the case.

I have to admit, I was extremely worried and nervous today. It has been a very nerve wracking week for me. First my good friend the bathroom scale passed away which was followed by a brief mourning period before I found a new friend the Withings Wi-Fi Body Scale.

Normally my diet weigh-in happens each Friday but because of the death and funeral arrangements it was postponed until today. So there I stood in the bathroom staring down at the new shiny Withings Wi-Fi Body Scale and I was too frightened to put a foot on it.

I’m not exactly sure what the proper mourning timeline is for a scale dying. I don’t want to seem too insensitive and immediately replace my dear old friend but then again I don’t want to be alone. As I stood in the bathroom staring at the empty spot where my scale used to sit I began to reminisce about all the great times my scale and I had together. That scale saw me through a lot of dark times but also was there to cheer me on as the weight began to fall off. Now here I have to take the rest of this journey alone.

Weigh-in day has become a cross between battling the Jabberwocky and bursting into a full futterwacken dance. For those of you who are sitting there reading and wondering what exactly am I talking about, that first sentence contained references to Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland.

I stood there in the bathroom staring down at the scale. If ever there was a time when I wanted a super power that would allow me to manipulate metal this was that time. I’m not exactly sure why my heart begins to race and I get short of breath before getting on the scale.

As the first rays of sunlight crept through the window and across the bed I found myself wide-awake. I didn’t have to be reminded that today was Friday that fact was clearly at the forefront of my mind. It’s funny; I used to look forward to Friday. It was the end of the workweek and with it brought the weekend where I could relax and lounge around without being on conference calls or locked in meetings.

Since starting this diet though I have found myself filled with equal parts of enthusiasm and dread. On the one hand it signaled the end of another week on my journey to a healthier lifestyle. On the other hand it represented the time where I would have to step on the scale and see the results of being on this diet.

Today marks the end of four weeks having been on this diet. I have to admit, I am pretty impressed with myself. It hasn’t really been as bad as I thought it was going to be. Before I began this diet I had assumed that before the first month was over I would have gone all Donner party on my family after eating the majority of my meals from water and powder. I can safely say that at no time during this first four weeks did I ever sneak into the children’s bedroom in the wee hours of the night and test if they were plump enough nor did I refer to any of them as Hansel or Gretel.

Overall it’s been ok. Yeah there were days that I wondered whether I was making any headway and I really questioned whether all of this reading and homework was necessary but then I would step on a scale or catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror and think, “I think I am starting to see a difference.”